Hagel in 2008: America Not 'Fair and Credible' in Middle East

"I think we've tilted very much to the Israeli side."

Michael Warren

February 20, 2013 11:41 AM

Chuck Hagel, Barack Obama's defense secretary nominee and a former Nebraska senator, said in a 2008 interview that he agreed that the United States has not been a "fair or credible peace broker" in the Middle East, specifically with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The interviewer cited a contemporary Gallup poll that showed most Palestinians said they had not much or no trust at all that the American president, George W. Bush, would help negotiate a fair peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians. In that same poll, the interviewer says, most Israelis said they were confident the U.S. could help bring a fair treaty. "Do you think the U.S. is still a fair and credible peace broker in that region, especially dealing with that conflict?" the interviewer asked Hagel.

"I don't think we have been," Hagel responded. "I think we've tilted very much to the Israeli side on settlements and the over 30 days of pounding the Israelis put on Lebanon a couple of years ago." Watch the video below, courtesy of Breitbart: